The World Rabies Day MSD Awards

To celebrate the 10th World Rabies Day on 28th September 2016, the Global Alliance for Rabies Control teamed up with MSD Animal Health for the WRD awards to recognise outstanding individuals and organisations in the field of community rabies prevention.

We received individual and organisation nominations from all over the world for the regions of Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia & Europe and the Americas. 

You can find a list of the winners below with a bit more information about why we were so impressed with the work that they're doing:

Individuals Category

Asia - Dr Thinlay Bhutia - leads the Sikkim Anti-Rabies And Animal Health Program (SARAH), India’s first government sanctioned program for state-wide rabies and stray-dog control. His work brought an end to the mass shooting of dogs in the area and simultaneously reduced the street dog population to a manageable size, with fewer puppies in distress

Sub-Saharan Africa - Dr Agnes Korir - following the tragic loss in 2004 of her seven year old daughter, Sharon, to rabies, Dr. Agnes Korir founded the Sharon Live On Foundation. So far the foundation has delivered over 270,000 vaccinations to dogs, over 150,000 in Nandi County, Kenya, where Sharon received her fatal exposure to rabies through a dog bite

Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia & Europe - Professor Kastriot Korro - is the National Focal Point on behalf of wildlife diseases for Albania, nominated by the Albanian Agriculture Ministry and approved by OIE. Professor Korro has been raising community awareness for the protection of both people and animals against rabies in Albania since 1996.

Americas - Dr Sergio Recuenco-Cabrera - has advocated for better control of vampire bat-associated rabies in the Amazon for more than 12 years at CDC, Rabies in the Americas and subsidiary meetings, Pan American Health Organization, and within the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). Much of his advocacy has been extracurricular, outside of his official capacity, and often at personal expense

Organisation Category

Asia - Visakha Society For Protection And Care of Animals - in the state of Andhra Pradesh, it was formed in 1996, planning to advocate for and implement humane alternatives to the brutal killing of street dogs

Sub-Saharan Africa - Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society - LAWCS has been active in rabies awareness and dog bite prevention education in schools and communities, and free dog rabies vaccination campaigns. LAWCS prioritizes education in schools and communities as crucial to the elimination of rabies in Liberia, along with rabies vaccines for dogs, and has reached over 50,000 school children in Lofa County

Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia & Europe - Kurdistan Organization for Animal Rights Protection - KOARP runs a number of programmes related to rabies prevention and animal welfare. It provides a veterinary service to stray, abandoned, homeless and sick animals, operated by volunteer vets. It is seeking to introduce two mobile veterinary clinics. Iraq has a stray dog control law that allows people to form teams and kill stray dogs, and KOARP is working with members of parliament to change this law and approve a law that protects animals

Americas - Zach Jones Memorial Fund - Connie and Larry Jones lost their only child, Zach, aged 16 years, to rabies in 2006. His illness was caused by the lack of recognition of the risk of rabies from bat exposures. Zach's parents wanted to prevent future tragedies, and launched the Zach Jones Memorial Fund (ZJMF) in 2007, with the dual goals of promoting rabies awareness and research, and perpetuation in others of the future that Zach personally held as a scholar-athlete before he died of rabies

We'd like to thank our judging panel, which included individuals from the CDC, FAO, OIE, WHO, MSD and GARC, and MSD employees who voted on the shortlist

You can find out more information about the nominations and winners here